Delta 14" Bandsaw lower bearings.....help needed

[Vaughn McMillan]

I'm late to the fray, but I was wondering why you're replacing the bearings? Just a general upgrade or was there a problem you're trying to fix?

[larry merlau]

I'm late to the fray, but I was wondering why you're replacing the bearings? Just a general upgrade or was there a problem you're trying to fix?

he had a noise that he couldnt find till he checked the bearings vaughn.. had china bearings that apparently were bad..

[Marv Rall]

One thing I have learned in my old age is if I use a Carter stabilizer on blades 1\4 and narrower upper and lower guides are not used or needed. The key to great performance is a 'sharp' blade.

[Rob Keeble]

So i just wanted to finish up on this thread.

I replaced my bearings and oh boy what a new machine. Shame on Delta for claiming at the time to supply a US made machine and put real junkie bearings in it. For what i paid for this machine i could have bought two top of the line Grizzly units in the same category. So much for supporting home made manufacture.

Ok apart from fixing up the bearings I had also discovered that the more vibration you take out of the mounting with these small saws the better the whole operation.

Even though mine came with a steel cabinet, the cabinet is a bolt together one and with it on teh floor there is nothing securing the base of the metal casing. Then the top plane that the huge casting rests on is not exactly a thick plate they try to make up for this with many bolts to the cabinet sides.

Sooooo

I cut two pieces of 3/4 baltic birch ply and put one under the top steel plate secured new bolts and tied the cabinet up to it. At the same time while i had the wheels off doing the bearings i drilled out the mounting holes in the casting and put in larger diameter bolts. So when all pulled up its now nice and solid.

To round this off the last piece of BB ply i put on the bottom and with the help of some left over angle iron from an old bed and some lee valley casters and rockler caster i built a mobile base around the bottom.

Now my bandsaw is pimped.

I saw this kind of mod in a post by a guy with a blog and i can only echo what he said. It really paid off to get the vibration out of the whole machine.

From the base to aligning the pulleys and the belt to fixing the bearings. Its now smooth and finally a pleasure to use.

Its has not cost much to do these fixes but the effort has well been worth it. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants more out of their 14 inch bandsaw.